The present invention relates to a method and a device for checking that an aircraft fulfills successive time constraints for the aircraft, in particular a transport airplane, upon a flight.

Within the context of the present invention, it is considered that a time constraint is a constraint requiring a given time of arrival, of the RTA (“Required Time of Arrival”) type, at a particular waypoint of the flight trajectory followed by the aircraft. It could also be, instead of a given time of arrival, a given time window, as specified below.

It is known that aircrafts are able to manage a time constraint while modulating their speed. The flight management system of the Flight Management System (“FMS”) type, should be able to ensure the function of fulfilling a time constraint at a given waypoint. To this end, it calculates optimum parameters, including in speed, so as to reach the specified waypoints at the expected time. A speed strategy should be defined throughout the flight plan in order to optimize the arrival at the constraint.

The flight management system calculates its predictions through comparing the time constraint Required Time of Arrival (“RTA”) with an estimated time of arrival Estimated Time of Arrival (“ETA”), being directly linked to the speed. If the estimated time of arrival is lower than the time constraint, the flight management system recalculates a speed profile so as to slow down (and vice versa), the aim being converging the estimated time ETA to the constraint RTA.

The issue linked to the constraint RTA results from the fact that calculating the speed profile uses a large part of the calculation abilities of the flight management system. The process for calculating predictions comprises an iterative loop allowing for the convergence, but requiring a large calculation capacity from the embedded computer. As it is already demanding for the system to carry out the calculations for one single constraint, it is technically difficult to impose multiple RTA constraints (several successive time constraints) and to calculate the adapted speed profiles, currently, as a result of the technical limitations at the level of the embedded computer.

The present invention aims at indicating to the pilot(s) beforehand (before the first time constraint) whether the aircraft is able to fulfill the next constraints in the case of several successive time constraints.

It is also necessary to be able to manage multiple constraints in the case where constraints defined as time windows should be fulfilled, making the problem even more complex. In this case, this is no longer a conventional constraint RTA for which the aircraft is requested to arrive at a waypoint on a precise time. In such a case, it is requested that it should arrive at this waypoint in a given time interval. Thus, if the aircraft arrives at any moment of this interval, the constraint is fulfilled, otherwise not. In the case of time windows, there are numerous possible speed profiles allowing the constraint to be fulfilled.

Moreover, in this situation, it can also happen that a speed profile allowing the first constraint to be respected could lead to the impossibility of fulfilling the second constraint or a next constraint.

Indeed, the embedded computer calculates an adapted speed profile so as to reach the first constraint in the imparted time window. However, as this constraint is a window, it optimizes the speed with the only aim to fulfill the first constraint, and before arriving within the time interval. It does not take into consideration the following constraints. Indeed, it could only calculate an optimized speed profile for the first constraint. Thus, in an extreme case, it could happen that it selects a speed profile subsequently preventing it from respecting the next constraints while respecting the first constraint. For example, if the second time constraint is tight, it requires arriving at the point of the first constraint in a tighter time window than this first constraint. But the system, not taking into consideration the speed profile for the second constraint, could very well decide to apply a slow speed profile (in order to save fuel, for instance) that will allow it to arrive very late up to the constraint so that it is impossible to catch up the delay for fulfilling the second constraint.

Thus, without the complete calculation of the speed profile throughout the whole flight plan, up to the last time constraint, it becomes impossible to know whether a plurality of successive time constraints are fulfilled or not.

The present invention aims at overcoming the above mentioned drawbacks and providing an operator, including a pilot of the aircraft, with a piece of information relating to fulfilling successive time constraints, before even the first constraint has been reached, and this without having to calculate the speed profile until the last constraint. More precisely, the present invention relates to a method for checking whether, upon a flight of an aircraft, the latter is able to fulfill a plurality of successive time constraints, each of which is relative to a required time of arrival in a particular waypoint.

To this end, said method is remarkable according to this invention in that at least means are provided for providing said required times of arrival and means for determining the current speed of the aircraft, and in that:

A/ for the next waypoint (that is the one the aircraft will reach first):

a) as a function of the current speed of the aircraft, a time of arrival at said next waypoint is estimated; and

b) this estimated time of arrival is compared to at least one comparison value depending on said required time of arrival at said next waypoint, for checking whether the time constraint relative to said next waypoint could be fulfilled; and

B/ for each of the waypoints following said next waypoint, the following operations are carried out:

a) a minimum time of arrival and a maximum time of arrival are calculated being estimated at said waypoint to be considered, considering that the time constraint of the previous waypoint is fulfilled, said minimum and maximum times of arrival being calculated respectively based on the possible minimum and maximum speeds for the aircraft between the previous waypoint and said waypoint being considered;

b) said minimum time of arrival and said maximum time of arrival are compared to at least one comparison value (to be set forth below) depending on said required time of arrival at said waypoint to be considered;

c) this comparison is taken into consideration for checking whether the time constraint is fulfilled; and

d) means are provided, including display means, for providing the results of said checks, for instance, to a pilot of the aircraft.

As the comparison of the required time of arrival RTA with the estimated time of arrival ETA is not adequate (because it is based on a large number of possible speeds for reaching the time RTA), the present invention provides, in the case of a plurality of constraints, a step of comparing, for each waypoint following the next waypoint, a comparison value (to be set forth below and depending on said required time of arrival) with minimum and maximum times of arrival based on fixed constant speeds of the aircraft. Thus, a simple calculation (and thus able to be carried out rapidly without iteration including by a flight management system) allows to determine whether time constraints located after the first time constraint will be fulfilled or not.

The present invention comprises:

The method according to this invention is a simple method for providing the pilot with an indication on fulfilling successive time constraints. The method does not provide recalculating the whole speed profile, so that the method requires reduced calculation abilities to be implemented.

Within the context of the present invention, a time constraint, that is the required time of arrival for a waypoint, could correspond:

either to a single time value, that is a usual time RTA, for instance 10H30;

In a first embodiment, the required time of arrival is a single time value. In this case, advantageously, at step A/b), said estimated time of arrival is compared to said required time of arrival at the next waypoint (that is that the aircraft will reach first), representing said comparison value, and it is considered that the time constraint is fulfilled if these two times are equal by one margin.

Moreover, in this first embodiment, for which at least one required time of arrival at a waypoint other than the next waypoint is also a single time value:

Furthermore, in a second embodiment, at least one required time of arrival for a waypoint represents a time window being defined between minimum and maximum limit values. In such a case, advantageously, at step A/b), the estimated time of arrival is compared, on the one hand, to said minimum limit value, representing a first comparison value, and on the other hand, to said maximum limit value, representing a second comparison value, and it is considered that the time constraint is fulfilled (at the next waypoint) if said estimated time of arrival ranges between said minimum time of arrival and said maximum time of arrival.

Moreover, in this second embodiment, for which at least one required time of arrival at a waypoint other than the next waypoint also represents a time window (being defined between minimum and maximum limit values):

In this second embodiment, in addition to checking whether the time constraints could be fulfilled as described above, there is determined, advantageously, when the fulfillment is confirmed, an optimum time of arrival at the corresponding waypoint allowing both to fulfill this time constraint and to fulfill the next time constraint(s).

To this end, in a preferred embodiment, the following operations are carried out to calculate an optimum time of arrival, for a time window with an (n−1) index relative to an (n−1) index waypoint:

The present invention further relates to a device for checking whether an aircraft, during a flight of the aircraft, is able to fulfill a plurality of successive time constraints, each of which is relative to a required time of arrival in a particular waypoint.

According to this invention, said device is remarkable in that it comprises:

The present invention also relates to:

The time constraint checking device 1 according to this invention and schematically shown on FIG. 1 is intended for checking that, during a flight of an aircraft AC, for example a civil or military transport airplane, this aircraft AC is able to fulfill a plurality of successive time constraints. Each time constraint is relative to a required time of arrival in a particular “waypoint” of the flight trajectory followed by the aircraft. A time constraint could correspond to a given single time of arrival or to a given time window, as set forth below.

To this end, the device 1 being embedded on the aircraft A, comprises:

Such results could, more specifically, be transmitted to a display device 9 (being part of the device 1) such as by displaying them on a screen 10 of the cockpit of the aircraft AC and/or to (not shown) sound or visual warning device, being able to warn the crew when constraints cannot be fulfilled.

According to this invention, said processing unit 4 comprises:

The device 1 according to the present invention thus provides, in the case of a plurality of successive time constraints, comparing, for each waypoint following the next waypoint, a comparison value (to be set forth below and depending on said required time of arrival) with minimum and maximum times of arrival based on fixed constant speeds of the aircraft AC. Thus, the checks could be carried out using simple calculations (to be set forth hereinunder) able to be implemented, rapidly and with reduced calculation ability requirements, by the processing unit 4.

The processing unit 4 is adapted to perform the following functions:

Within the context of the present invention, a time constraint, that is the required time of arrival for the next waypoint, could correspond:

In a first embodiment, the required time of arrival is a single time value.

In such a case, the first comparison device 12 compare the estimated time of arrival with said required time of arrival at the next waypoint (that is the one the aircraft AC will reach first), representing said comparison value, and the time constraint is fulfilled if these two times are equal by one predetermined margin, for example of a few minutes.

In addition, in this first embodiment, for which at least one required time of arrival at a waypoint other than the next waypoint is also one single time value, the calculator 13 compare said minimum time of arrival and said maximum time of arrival with said required time of arrival at said waypoint being considered, representing said comparison value. Moreover, the time constraint is fulfilled if said required time of arrival ranges between said minimum time of arrival and said maximum time of arrival.

Consequently, two cases are to be distinguished:

The first (or next) time constraint the aircraft AC will meet (at point P1 of FIG. 2) is processed as in the case of a single constraint. An adapted speed profile is calculated by the processing unit 4 so as to fulfill it, amongst the possible profile solutions. This calculation is based on the comparison of the constraint RTA with the estimated time of arrival ETA at said point P1.

For each next constraint RTA, the processing unit 4 supposes that the previous time constraint is fulfilled, and calculates the minimum time of arrival ETAmin and the maximum time of arrival ETAmax at the waypoint being considered. Thus, if the constraint RTA is within the interval given par ETAmin and ETAmax (illustrated by arrows F1 and F2 on FIG. 2), it is fulfilled, otherwise it is not.

As shown on FIG. 2, if the constraint RTAn (at point Pn) is within the interval (ETAmin, ETAmax), then, it will be fulfilled. If not, the pilot already knows, before the constraint RTAn−1 (point Pn−1) that the constraint RTAn will not be fulfilled and can act accordingly. This applies similarly for the next constraints, still supposing that the previous constraint is fulfilled and calculating the minimum time of arrival ETAmin and the maximum time of arrival ETAmax, on the segment between the two constraints.

Furthermore, in a second embodiment, at least one required time of arrival for a waypoint represents a time window being defined between minimum and maximum limit values. In this case, it is possible not to fulfill the next time constraints while fulfilling the first constraint, from the choice of the adopted speed profile, as illustrated on FIG. 3.

On this FIG. 3, there are shown:

In this situation:

In this second embodiment, the first comparison device 12 compares the estimated time of arrival at the next waypoint, on the one hand, to the minimum limit value (of the time window), representing a first comparison value, and on the other hand, to the maximum limit value (of the time window), representing a second comparison value, and they consider that the time constraint is fulfilled if said estimated time of arrival ranges between said minimum time of arrival and said maximum time of arrival.

Moreover, in this second embodiment, it is considered that at least one required time of arrival at a waypoint other than the next waypoint also represents a time window (being defined between minimum and maximum limit values. In this case, the second comparison device 14 compares said minimum time of arrival and said maximum time of arrival, on the one hand to said minimum limit value, representing a first comparison value, and on the other hand, to said maximum limit value, representing a second comparison value. In addition, they consider that the time constraint is able to be fulfilled if at least one of said minimum and maximum limit values ranges between said minimum time of arrival and said maximum time of arrival.

In this second embodiment, in addition to checking whether the time constraints could be fulfilled as described above, the processing unit 4 also determines, when the fulfillment is confirmed, an optimum time of arrival Topt at the corresponding waypoint (for example at Pn−1 as shown on FIG. 4). This optimum time of arrival allows both to fulfill this time constraint (a Pn−1) and to fulfill the next time constraints (and including at the next point Pn, also shown on FIG. 4).

To this end, in a preferred embodiment, the optimum time of arrival calculator 15 of the processing unit 4 carries out the following operations, for a (n−1) index time window relative to a (n−1) index waypoint Pn−1:

On the other hand, if said first time of arrival is outside said minimum and maximum limit values, the optimum time of arrival calculator 15 limit it so that it remains within the time window. More precisely, the optimum time of arrival calculator 15 considers that the optimum time of arrival corresponds:

The strategy to be adopted thus involves calculating the optimum hour of arrival at the constraint RTA1 allowing this constraint to be fulfilled as well as the next constraint(s). This amounts to convert the constraint as a window into an optimized simple constraint such that the simple constraint is contained within the window.

As can be seen on FIG. 4, the optimum time of arrival Topt should be calculated for optimizing the fulfillment of the two constraints. It is both tried to leave as much margin before and after RTAn while fulfilling the constraint (n−1).

The calculation could be described using the following formula:
RTAn=½(ETAmin(WPTn,Topt)+ETAmax(WPTn,Topt)),
where Topt is thus the optimized time of arrival at RTAn−1. ETAmin(WPTn, Topt) is the minimum hour (or time) of arrival at point WPTn, going through point WPTn−1 at time Topt.

Now, as ETAmin/max(WPTn; Topt)=Topt+TTGmin/max Time to Go (“TTG”) is the duration necessary for the aircraft to fly from RTAn−1 to RTAn. This duration is constant, as it is defined by the window RTAn−1 and by RTAn. The following is obtained:
RTAn=½(Topt+TTGmin+Topt+TTGmax) hence, Topt=RTAn−½(TTGmin+TTGmax).

The variations of Topt should also be limited to the window RTA so as to ensure that the first constraint is actually fulfilled.

The time/distance diagram on FIG. 5 (time T, distance D) allows to more easily explain the situation. On this diagram:

Furthermore, in order to optimize at most the chances to fulfill the constraints RTA, it is tried to switch to the constraint RTA with a mean speed Vmean=½(Vmax+Vmin). Thus, in the case of wind or of another problem, a margin is obtained on the speed however allowing the constraint to be fulfilled.

The window constraint will also be converted into a simple constraint, and the optimum point I is determined, where to reach the window so as to be at the mean speed. For optimizing the chances to fulfill the two constraints, the mean speed line V3 should thus be reached (slowing down or accelerating) as soon as possible (as illustrated by the arrow F9 on FIG. 5), then this mean speed value V3 should be maintained.

In a particular embodiment, said device 1 could also provide the results of its checks and of its calculations to user systems 16 of the aircraft (via the link 8), and in particular to a usual automatic guiding system calculating, for example, speed instructions allowing to respect more specifically the optimum time of arrival (calculated by the processing unit) and applying such speed instructions to the aircraft AC.